Why Did A Stalemate Develop On The Western Front ?

Authors Avatar

Joseph Collins

Why Did A Stalemate Develop On The Western Front ?

A stalemate is when all sides are unable to advance further in the war. After the failure of the Schlieffen plan both armies were pushed into a stalemate, neither of the sides were able to make any progress or advance any further during the first World War.

 The Germans were pushed back from the river Marne to the river Aisne. When there both sides dug in. From this point the war was to be fought from trenches. The trenches dug by both sides eventually stretched seven hundred kilometers, from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. Over the next four years of the war the Western Front hardly moved. Both sides were in stalemate.

 Stalemate occurred due to many reasons, not only did the German war plan fail (Schlieffen Plan) so did Plan 17 (The British war plan). Other reasons were : The terrible effects of modern weaponry, the race to the sea and the digging of trenches, the immense strength of the trench system and the weakness of the attacks, also developments in technology which strengthened defences but merely caused hinderance to attacks. Plan 17 (the French plan) was to attack Alsace-Lorraine with the bulk of their army, this was exactly what the Gemrans had planned and prepared for. Many troops were killed due to German machine guns and the plan had failed, also as the French had no back up plan they built their trenches where they were so further into the war they would make very little progress which helped create a stalemate.

Join now!

 General Von Moltke took over Schlieffen’s plan he sent the troops the wrong way around Paris so they collided with the retreating French army which meant it was a longer and harder journey for the German army to get to Paris. The French pushed Germany back sixty kilometres, both sides tried to outflank each other but they ended up by the sea. As they could no longer advance both sides dug trenches to prevent their enemy from advancing further. Trenches made it incredibly hard for either side to make any progress and advance as they were immensely strong, neither side ...

This is a preview of the whole essay